Dynamic rights assignment

Abstract

In a first embodiment of the present invention, a method for blocking malicious software in an operating system, comprising: receiving a command to open a file; determining a file association for the file, wherein the file association points to a dynamic rights assignment module; evaluating what process issued the command to open the file; determining if the process that issued the command to open the file is known to be safe; when it is determined that the process that issued the command to open the file is not known to be safe, prompting a user whether to run in protected mode; when the user indicates that protected mode should be run, creating a temporary user of the operating system; and running a program associated with the file association for the file, as the temporary user.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for blocking malicious software in an operating system, comprising:
 receiving a command to open a file;   determining a file association for the file, wherein the file association points to a dynamic rights assignment module;   evaluating what process issued the command to open the file;   determining if the process that issued the command to open the file is known to be safe;   when it is determined that the process that issued the command to open the file is not known to be safe, prompting a user whether to run in protected mode;   when the user indicates that protected mode should be run, creating a temporary user of the operating system; and   running a program associated with the file association for the file, as the temporary user.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 prompting the user as to whether to run the command one time or forever using the protected mode; and   when the user indicates that the command should be run forever using the protected mode, registering a checksum of the process that issued the command to open the file.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the file is of a key file type. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the key file type includes a file type for a program that works as an add-on to another program. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the key file type includes a file type for a file management applications. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the key file type includes a file type associated with a layered service provider. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the key file type includes a file type associated with system drivers. 
     
     
         8 . A computer system comprising:
 a processor;   an operating system, wherein the operating system contains a registry having file associations;   a user account module;   a dynamic rights assignment module configured to;
 evaluate what process issued a command to open a file, wherein the command to open the file triggered the registry to call the dynamic rights assignment module; 
 determine if the process that issued the command to open the file is known to be safe; 
 when it is determined that the process that issued the command to open the file is not known to be safe, prompting a user whether to run in protected mode; and 
 when the user indicates that protected mode should be run, issuing a call to the user account module to create a temporary user to run a program associated with a file association for the file. 
   
     
     
         9 . The computer system of  claim 8 , wherein the dynamic rights assignment module is further configured to:
 prompt the user as to whether to run the command one time or forever using the protected mode; and   when the user indicates that the command should be run forever using the protected mode, register a checksum of the process that issued the command to open the file.   
     
     
         10 . A program storage device readable by a machine tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform a method for blocking malicious software in an operating system, the method comprising:
 receiving a command to open a file;   determining a file association for the file, wherein the file association points to a dynamic rights assignment module;   evaluating what process issued the command to open the file;   determining if the process that issued the command to open the file is known to be safe;   when it is determined that the process that issued the command to open the file is not known to be safe, prompting a user whether to run in protected mode;   when the user indicates that protected mode should be run, creating a temporary user of the operating system; and   running a program associated with the file association for the file, as the temporary user.